Wainio, Ken; Dawson, David

Broadside: The Opening of the Eye

San Francisco, CA: Relevé Press, 1977. First Printing. Single Sheet. A broadside (8.5 x 11”) featuring a poem by Ken Wainio (1952-2006), a charter member of the Baby Beat Generation and Second San Francisco Renaissance most affiliated with its Surrealist wing. The reason Wainio is considered a “surrealist” is because his understanding of Surrealism was not only widely respected in his time, but because approach he took to that modality of composition had a lot in common with Philip Lamantia’s perceptions on the genre (1927-2005). What Wainio and Lamantia shared was an insistence on situating their sense of Surrealism (as a method of composition) in a deep, wide-reaching knowledge of the ancient past. This, in some senses, can be thought of as an extension of ‘cutting the word lines,’ as in Burroughs. There were two parts to this theory: the first is that the word lines needed to be cut if their practice, as surrealists, was to be thought legitimate (e.g., considered ‘liberatory’). The second part is about the histories of nations and peoples: about ancient civilizations from the dawn of man to the Middle Ages. It asks after all things lost to the march of modernity & time — wants to know what the subconscious of a highly-learned monk might’ve looked like; then works to embody it for the purposes prescribed by Surrealism. They both wanted to turn their minds into little ‘Libraries of Alexandria’ — “halls of records” (to stay on the Egyptian theme) that would then be mined (or ‘refined’) through the subconscious-driven comp. processes of Literary Surrealism. Think of that word ‘terroir,’ and how it functions in the world of wine-making: the definition, word-for-word, is ‘the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.’ Wainio and Lamantia both understood that the above-quoted fragment of food science was equally useful when trying to “make yourself a visionary,” as Rimbaud might’ve had it. It was key for Surrealism, and Wainio’s distinguished embodiment of that commitment affords him a rightful place among America’s great literary-&-artistic post-war Surrealists. This broadside, The Opening of the Eye, is a testament to that legacy: and the result is an essential Wainio collectible. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book, Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (Item No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Letter-sized, small-format broadside on single sheet: one of “250 [unnumbered] copies printed by Relevé Press / for the Winter of 1977 in San Francisco.” In very fine condition with only minute-to-mild shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of recto & verso sides; otherwise, clean. Very Fine. [Item #7472]

Price: $30.00